KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥 Russia said Monday it captured the village of Levadne in southern Ukraine as it probes for weaknesses along the war 鈥檚 roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, including in eastern areas that are the main focus of Moscow鈥檚 military effort before winter arrives.
Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, reported no nighttime on the country for the first time in about six weeks, after saying five days ago they struck a Shahed storage facility in Russia鈥檚 Krasnodar region where around 400 drones reportedly were being kept.
Levadne, in the Zaporizhzhia region, was seized by the Russians early on during the full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but was recaptured by Ukrainian forces during a counteroffensive in the summer of 2023.
Ukrainian officials made no comment about Levadne鈥檚 reported capture, though they had previously noted that the Russian army was assembling troops there and was conducting local assaults at the end of last week.
Ukraine鈥檚 troops are straining to hold back Russia鈥檚 military might, especially in , and don鈥檛 have the manpower or weaponry to launch their own offensive. Though Russia鈥檚 gains have been incremental, its steady forward movement is slowly adding up as .
In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was briefed on Russia's autumn and winter plans for attacking Ukraine and said North Korea was supporting Moscow.
Ukraine says it to have a chance of holding back Russia鈥檚 invasion.
Zelenskyy said Monday that Ukraine's victory plan will be publicly presented to Kyiv's European partners and he dubbed it a strategy to compel Russia to come to a 鈥渏ust end to this war.鈥
Details of the plan have not been disclosed, but Zelenskyy has said the plan is about strengthening Ukraine 鈥渂oth geopolitically and on the battlefield鈥 before any kind of dialogue with Russia.
Russia illegally annexed four regions of Ukraine, including Zaporizhzhia, in September 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from all four regions as the main condition for a prospective peace deal 鈥 a demand Ukraine and the West have rejected.
Last week, the Ukrainian General Staff reported a direct hit on the Shahed drone warehouse inside Russia.
鈥淭he destruction of the Shahed drone storage base will significantly reduce the ability of Russian occupiers to terrorize peaceful residents of Ukrainian cities and villages,鈥 it said at the time.
Ukrainian officials are keen to show the West that they aren't giving up the fight against their much bigger neighbor. An has put Ukrainian troops on Russian soil for more than two months.
The Russians are managing to retake some territory in Kursk but the Ukrainians are capturing even more, according to Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military analyst from Information Resistance, a Kyiv-based think tank.
He told The Associated Press that the onset of winter fog and rain will affect the use of drones 鈥 an important element in Ukraine鈥檚 military strategy.
Ukraine has deployed sophisticated long-range , including airfields, oil refineries and ammunition depots.
The Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence said Monday that it destroyed a Russian military transport aircraft, a Tu-134, at a military airfield in Russia鈥檚 Orenburg region.
Russia, meanwhile, struck port infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa with a ballistic missile Monday, killing one person and wounding eight others, as well as damaging two merchant ships, officials said.
The attack damaged grain storage facilities, cargo cranes, administrative buildings, port equipment and vehicles, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksii Kuleba said on his Telegram channel.
Recent attacks on Odesa port facilities appear intended to of grains and other food staples.
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Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
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